Gold - Roger Daltrey

In 2004, Sanctuary Records released a double-CD Roger Daltrey compilation called Moonlighting: The Anthology. Two years later, Hip-O Records' 2006 double-CD Daltrey compilation Gold bears many similarities to that collection. In fact, the first 18-track disc is identical. The second one has several differences, however. Gold includes "The Pride You Hide" from Under a Raging Moon, which is not on Moonlighting, but Moonlighting boasts four tracks not included on Gold: "Quicksilver Lightning," "Mack the Knife," "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," and "Rock and Roll." The albums have the same liner notes by Ed Hanel, and Hip-O hasn't even bothered to change the title in the text, which, in the third sentence, refers to Gold as Moonlighting. In both versions, this is a good, but not great, assemblage of Daltrey solo material. It features several rarities, such as the non-LP B-side singles "There Is Love" and "Dear John," but it excludes three of Daltrey's U.S. and/or U.K. chart singles, "Walking in My Sleep," "Let Me Down Easy," and "Written on the Wind." Such distinctive Daltrey solo tracks as "Giving It All Away," "Avenging Annie," "Say It Ain't So, Joe," "Free Me," "Without Your Love," and "After the Fire" pace the chronological collection through the early part of the second disc, after which things get both a bit more idiosyncratic, with such inclusions as "The Pig Must Die" from the studio cast recording of the musical The Hunting of the Snark and a live cover of "Born to Run," and a bit more predictable, with a clutch of live remakes of songs Daltrey sang in his day job with the Who. Since it is longer, Moonlighting gets the nod over this inferior copy, but either set provides well over two hours of solo Roger Daltrey, generously examining a solo career that has been as earnest as it has been uneven. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide